Culturally variable psychological measures for British Bangladeshis and non-migrant residents of East London 2012-2014

This dataset contains multiple measures of psychological processes that have previously been found to vary cross-culturally: individualism, collectivism, closeness to others, attributional style, object categorisation, drawing style and self-enhancement. Respondents are all residents of East London, with most falling into three main groups: first generation British Bangladeshis, second generation British Bangladeshis, and non-migrants with no Bangladeshi or South Asian heritage. The data also contains various demographic and lifestyle measures, such as education level, family contact, mass media use, age, and age of migration (for first generation migrants). Please see attached publication (Mesoudi, Magid & Hussain, 2016, PLOS ONE) for more details.<p>Until recently, psychologists assumed that people from different societies all think in the same way as we do in the West - that there is a universal human psychology shared by everyone on the planet. However, when psychologists started testing non-Western people, rather than the American and British undergraduates who typically do psychology experiments, they found intriguing cultural differences. For example, there are differences in perception: Westerners focus on single objects, whereas non-Westerners focus on the relationships between objects. If you show a British and a Japanese person a scene containing lots of objects, the British person is subsequently better at recognising the objects if they are presented on their own, whereas the Japanese person has better memory if the object is presented in the original scene. Or differences in explaining other people's behaviour: Westerners explain behaviour of others in terms of fixed personality traits, whereas non-Westerners explain actions in terms of social contexts. A British teacher might explain a student's poor exam performance in terms of their laziness or lack of intelligence, whereas a Korean teacher might appeal instead to the overbearing pressure to succeed academically.

But why do people from different cultures think differently? This is the central question addressed by this project. Several explanations are possible: it could be that psychological variation is caused by genetic differences between populations, and cognitive style is inherited genetically from parents. Alternatively, parents could have a non-genetic influence, through direct teaching or passive observation. Or psychological traits could be transmitted non-parentally, via peers, formal schooling, or the mass media.

We will take advantage of a unique natural experiment to tease apart these factors: immigration. If the UK-born children of non-Western immigrants resemble their parents in their psychological traits, we can infer that those traits are transmitted from parents either genetically or culturally. If, on the other hand, they resemble local non-immigrants, then non-parental influence must be at work. We will then see whether this shift is associated with specific factors, such as years of schooling, exposure to mass media, or bilingualism.

Another way of explaining psychological variation is in terms of history. For example, it has been suggested that Western individualism arose in ancient Greece as a response to solitary herding, whereas Eastern collectivism arose in ancient China as a response to collective rice farming. We will test this by simulating these conditions in the lab, as an experimental "microcosm" of cultural history, to see whether solitary action stimulates individualism and collective action stimulates collectivism.

Finally, we will develop a web app that will let us test these ideas in multiple countries, beyond the UK, and specifically targeting immigrant groups. If these relationships hold across several regions, we can be more confident that they are valid. On the other hand, differences between regions might also be valuable. If immigrants acculturate faster in London than elsewhere, as suggested by pilot data, we can identify why this is, such as differences in mass media influence, bilingualism or family size.

This project has major potential benefits for the successful integration of immigrants to the UK. Psychological differences can constitute a barrier to successful social and economic integration. For example, non-Western students can find it difficult to cope in Western educational systems that favour autonomy and creative thinking. Knowing the origin of these differences can help to overcome them better, for example by targeting parents (if parents have an influence) or the media (if the media plays a role).</p>

本数据集包含多项此前被证实存在跨文化差异的心理过程测量指标：个人主义、集体主义、人际亲密度、归因风格、客体分类、绘画风格与自我提升。所有受访者均为东伦敦居民，其中大部分隶属于三大群体：第一代英籍孟加拉裔、第二代英籍孟加拉裔，以及无孟加拉裔或南亚血统的非移民群体。数据集还包含各类人口统计学与生活方式测量指标，如教育水平、家庭联系、大众媒体接触时长、年龄，以及第一代移民的移民年龄。更多细节请参阅已发表文献（Mesoudi、Magid与Hussain，2016，PLOS ONE）。

长期以来，心理学家曾假设不同社会的人群思维方式与西方人群完全一致，认为全球所有人共享一套普适的人类心理机制。然而，当心理学家不再以通常参与心理学实验的美英大学生为被试，转而测试非西方人群时，他们发现了引人关注的文化差异。例如感知层面的差异：西方人关注单一客体，而非西方人则关注客体间的关系。若向英国人和日本成年人展示包含多个客体的场景，随后单独呈现这些客体时，英国人能更精准地识别；而当客体以原始场景背景呈现时，日本人的记忆效果更佳。又如解释他人行为的差异：西方人倾向于用固定的人格特质解释他人行为，而非西方人则更侧重从社会情境层面解读行动。英国教师可能会将学生考试失利归因于懒惰或智力不足，而韩国教师则更可能将其归咎于学业成功带来的过重压力。

但不同文化背景的人群为何会产生思维差异？这正是本项目旨在解答的核心问题。目前存在多种可能的解释：其一，心理差异源于人群间的遗传差异，认知风格可通过父母遗传获得；其二，父母可通过直接教导或被动观察的方式，以非遗传途径影响子女；其三，心理特质也可通过同辈群体、正规学校教育或大众媒体等非父母途径进行传递。

我们将借助一项独特的自然实验来厘清这些影响因素：移民现象。若非西方移民在英国出生的子女在心理特质上与其父母相似，那么可推断这些特质是通过遗传或文化途径从父母处传递而来。反之，若他们更贴近本地非移民群体，则说明非父母的影响机制在发挥作用。随后我们将探究这种文化适应转变是否与特定因素相关，例如受教育年限、大众媒体接触程度或双语能力。

另一种解释心理差异的视角源自历史因素。例如，有观点认为西方的个人主义起源于古希腊，是对独居放牧生活方式的适应；而东方的集体主义则起源于古代中国，是对集体水稻农耕的适应。我们将通过实验室模拟这些情境来验证这一假说，将其作为文化历史的实验“微观缩影”，以验证独居行为是否会催生个人主义，集体行动是否会激发集体主义。

最后，我们将开发一款网络应用程序，以便在英国以外的多个国家，尤其是针对移民群体开展相关测试。若这些关联在多个地区均成立，则可进一步确认其有效性。反之，不同地区间的差异也具备研究价值。若试点数据显示伦敦的移民文化适应速度快于其他地区，我们便可探究其背后的原因，例如大众媒体影响、双语能力或家庭规模的差异。

本项目对于推动移民在英国的成功融合具有重大潜在价值。心理差异可能会成为社会与经济融合的阻碍。例如，非西方学生可能难以适应注重自主性与创造性思维的西方教育体系。明晰这些差异的起源，将有助于更好地克服这类障碍，例如（若父母存在影响）针对父母群体开展干预，或借助媒体渠道（若媒体发挥作用）进行引导。